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Courage and Commitment

Excerpts from Man to Man: A Journal of Discovery for the Conscious Man--The Men's Teachings of Yogi Bhajan

"Here we are in a men's course. We want to build a strong man of you. Not so that you become “macho;” not so that you become self-destructive; but so that you can handle every challenge you face. We believe the strength of the man is in the challenge: the higher the challenge, the higher the man's capacity to meet it, the higher is his achievement in life. Challenge is not something that destroys you; challenge is something that gives you an experience.

"We are required to have a different kind of strength. We are required to have within us what we need. We cannot go with the free flow of insanity. Life requires much more commitment. Life needs the nurturing of commitment and commitment needs strength of character. Character needs strength of values and values have to be learned from the learned, and then practiced and lived.

"I believe that you are wise enough to answer every question. Your failure is when you don't mean to commit. Because without a base, without nailing yourself to the situation, you will never find the answer. You may want to have the answer, you may badly need the answer, you may try to have the answer; but without your nucleus, there is no answer. Are you going to live with this woman or not? Are you going to be with this situation or not? If you are going to be, then go through with everything!

"In our lives we do not believe in the flow of commitment. The commitment of life is a flow, and we do not guard the commitment. We only guard the life. You don't guard the commitment of life and you don't guard the values of life. Life flows in order for you to develop values; and as the life flows and you develop your values, the deeper and deeper should be your commitment."